JOHN DAY NATIVE IMPROVES IN NATIONAL EVENT | PAGE A9
KATE PAGE
Wednesday, August 4, 2021
153rd Year • No. 31 • 14 Pages • $1.50
MyEagleNews.com
City
responds
to criticism
over
police levy
proposal
Opposition argues
city should close
greenhouse,
lay off an offi cer
By Steven Mitchell
Blue Mountain Eagle
Contributed photo/U.S. Forest Service
The 2015 Canyon Creek Complex fi re.
Fire danger heats up
Conditions far drier than 2015, when Canyon
Creek Complex destroyed over 40 homes
By Steven Mitchell
Blue Mountain Eagle
C
onditions on the Malheur National For-
est are vastly drier than before the Can-
yon Creek Complex fi re of 2015 that
destroyed over 40 homes.
In 2015, July rainfall was 1.35 inches,
but this year it was only 0.12 inches. Average July
temperatures were 10 degrees hotter than they were
in 2015. Average July humidity was 23% in 2015 but
only 16% this year.
Given the extreme drought conditions of historic
proportions, the Malheur requested
the assistance of the National Wild-
fi re Prevention Education Team to let
the public know how serious wildfi re
risks are in the national forest.
Malheur National Forest Supervi-
sor Craig Trulock said 2021 is turn-
ing out to be an “extraordinary year”
Craig Trulock
when it comes to wildfi re risk.
With the forest in its most restric-
tive public use restrictions, the idea of bringing in
the prevention team was to “up” their messaging and
communicate to the public the tinderbox of fuels in
the forest that, if ignited by a moment of carelessness,
could be disastrous.
Resources are stretched thin with wildfi res tearing
through the west, including the Bootleg Fire in South-
ern Oregon, which continues to be the largest in the
U.S.
Trulock told the Eagle the likelihood of closing
the forest — which the Umatilla National Forest has
already done — is all dependent on signifi cant fi re
activity. Trulock said, if the Malheur does not see a
sharp increase in fi re activity, the forest has a good
2015 COMPARED TO 2021
Conditions on the Malheur National Forest
were far drier in July than in 2015 when the
Canyon Creek Complex destroyed over 40
homes.
July:
2015
2021
Rainfall:
1.35 inches
0.12 inches
Average temp:
77 degrees
87 degrees
Average humidity:
23%
16%
Fuel moisture:
7%
5%
Citizens express
concerns
chance of remaining open.
“Bringing on the prevention team is all about try-
ing to keep us open,” he said. “We want to keep peo-
ple out there using the forest, but we want them to do
it in a very responsible manner.”
Precautions and evacuation
Evacuations in Grant County fall under Sheriff
Todd McKinley. After watching Prairie City avoid a
fast-moving moving fi re last month, mainly due to
favorable wind conditions and speedy response from
fi re crews, McKinley told the Eagle every resident in
the county needs to have an evacuation plan.
McKinley said, in addition to preparing for evac-
uation, he advises people to take simple steps around
their homes that too often go overlooked but can make
all the diff erence when a fi re hits.
See Fire, Page A14
File photo
Clinton Shaver, with the Molalla Rural Fire
District, watches as a tree goes up in fl ames
on the Canyon Creek Complex south of
John Day in 2015.
ODFW employees kill two wolf pups
Five attacks confi rmed since
mid-July
By Jayson Jacoby
EO Media Group
Employees from the Oregon Depart-
ment of Fish and Wildlife, fi ring rifl es
from a helicopter, shot and killed two
wolf pups from the Lookout Mountain
pack on Sunday.
On Thursday, the agency’s director
authorized either ODFW employees, or
a Baker County ranching couple or their
designated agents, to kill up to four sub-
adult wolves from that pack, which has
attacked their cattle at least fi ve times
since mid-July.
ODFW biologists have confi rmed
the fi ve attacks by wolves from the
Lookout Mountain pack, which consists
of an estimated nine wolves, but poten-
tially as many as 11.
The attacks all happened northeast of
Local offi cials faced criti-
cism from people who oppose
a proposal for a temporary
tax levy to fund the John
Day Police Department in a
town hall July 27 at the Grant
County Fairgrounds.
The meeting, moder-
ated by Seneca rancher Jack
Southworth and attended by
roughly 40 people, prioritized
questions and comments sur-
rounding the city’s fi ve-year
proposed tax levy of 45-50
cents per $1,000 of assessed
p r o p -
erty
value
for
police
funding.
A l o n g
with
John
Day
City
Manager
Nick Green
Frances
and Mayor
Preston
Ron Lund-
bom, City Councilors Heather
Rookstoool, Elliot Sky, Paul
Smith and Dave Holland took
questions during a wide-rang-
ing session after ballots for
the levy special election
arrived in mailboxes last
week.
Contributed photo/Oregon Department
of Fish and Wildlife
A trail cam photo from May 30 of one of
the two yearling wolves in the Lookout
Mountain pack.
Durkee, generally in the Manning Creek
area east of Lookout Mountain.
The two wolves killed Sunday
are 3 1/2-month-old pups, accord-
ing to Michelle Dennehy, an ODFW
spokesperson.
The agency confi rmed earlier this
year that the pack’s breeding female and
male — neither of which can be killed
under the permit issued Thursday —
produced a litter of seven pups this year.
During the helicopter fl ight on Sun-
day, ODFW employees saw at least fi ve
pups and the two adults, Dennehy said.
They didn’t see either of the two year-
lings wolves, which were born in the
spring of 2020.
ODFW employees and the ranchers,
Deward and Kathy Thompson, also tried
to fi nd the wolves on Friday, but they
saw only the two adult wolves, both of
which have tracking collars.
The permit issued Thursday is valid
through Aug. 21, or until up to four
wolves have been killed, whichever
happens fi rst.
Dennehy said the permit is intended
to stop chronic attacks by wolves on
livestock “by reducing the pack’s food
See Wolves, Page A14
While the decision on the
levy rests only with John Day
voters, members of surround-
ing communities also pro-
vided feedback.
“It’s all about principle,”
Prairie City resident Frances
Preston said. “Everyone in
Grant County has an opinion
on this.”
She said the city should
have made the police depart-
ment a priority a long time
ago. Now, she said, the city
has created a scenario where
they can put the blame on
those who vote against the
police levy as those who
chose to do away with the
police department.
Preston handed out fl yers
at the meeting that listed sev-
eral concerns. Preston said
Bob Pereira came up with the
lion’s share of the content in
the fl yer, but others contrib-
uted as well.
Instead of a tax, they pro-
posed two alternatives to
keep the city’s police force.
The fi rst, which they said
does not fi t the city’s “narra-
tive,” would be to close John
Day’s greenhouse. The other,
they say, would be to lay off
one of the department’s patrol
offi cers.
Lay off a patrol offi cer
They argued that laying
off one patrol offi cer would
give the department a surplus.
However, John Day resi-
dent Darrin Toy asked Police
Chief Mike Durr what eff ect
laying off one patrol offi -
cer would have on the police
department.
Durr said, including
himself, the police depart-
ment has four patrol offi -
cers. He said operating with
See Levy, Page A14